We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cody Montes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cody, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success can look a whole lot different to each person. To some, success means a big fancy house, nice cars and lots of jewels. But success to me is being able to raise our child and follow my passion of photography. I have traveled a bit, worked in numerous industries, and taken what I have learned from each adventure and now apply it to my home life and business. The old saying “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”, is loaded saying. Yes, I absolutely LOVE what I do. However, because I love what I do, I work harder. I work early morning, late nights, weekends and more. There is a lot that goes into photography behind the scenes to be successful and keep things running. I am fortunate enough to have the best support system and own my success to my loving family and amazing clients! Without them, I would not be successful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello! I am a wife, mother and photographer among other things. I have lived such a full life. So much so that I feel like I have lived a few lives. I have lived in quite a few places, CA, AZ, CO, NV, HI, but currently reside in Fort Worth, Texas. Life has settled down and roots have been planted and memories are being made with my little family. Life is just beautiful, even with struggles from time to time. My family and I bought a little ranch last year and have been renovating and getting the property ready for animals that are going to make for beautiful photos. Speaking of photos, my passion for photography started at a young age. From disposable cameras, polaroid cameras, digital cameras, phone cameras or now my ‘big’ camera, you could guarantee that a camera was always close by! I spent many years in front of the camera but ultimately found myself loving the creative control behind the lens. My love for photography continued to grow throughout the years and with constant encouragement to share my passion, I decided it was time to share it with the world and offer what I have learned over the years to clients. My genuine passion for photography has allowed me to capture such beautiful moments for so many people. These moments frozen in time are my absolute most valuable possession. I love that we can look back on these little frozen moments and relive and remember every detail.

I get told a lot that I need to narrow down my craft and find my niche. I cannot. I just can’t. I absolutely love photographing everything. If I haven’t photographed it, I want to try! From birth photography, newborn, weddings, family, engagements, pregnancy announcements, maternity, headshots, portraits, sports, product photography and more! I love it all and am thankful for every single opportunity that comes my way and welcome anything new!

What am I most proud of? My heart glows with this question because I am absolutely proud of so much! First off, I am proud of myself. Starting such an intimate business in a location where you only know a few people has been one of my biggest struggles. But with consistency and my support system I have been steadily growing. Not giving up, not comparing yourself to others, and having faith is easier said than done. But staying positive and doing my best has proved to be a key to my success. I am extremely proud of my husband. His support, patience and love has blown me away and is more than I deserve. I am forever grateful and feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I am so proud of my my son and fur babies. They put up with a lot of my ideas and have been the most fantastic models I could ever ask for. My clients… ahhh… my sweet clients. I am so proud of the clients that I have. Their support, encouragement, and faith in me means the world to me. I am so honored that my clients trust me to capture some of the biggest moments in their life. That is truly one of the biggest blessings and gifts that I treasure!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is such a blessing and a curse. This is something I struggle with every single day. The biggest thing about being successful on social media is being consistent, showing up and being creative. Honestly I go through phases of being 100% consistent by posting every day, posting multiple stories, on MULTIPLE platforms and sometimes I get burnt out. Finding a balance is a challenge. My biggest advice is to just be genuine. Be yourself. Not everyone will like you and that is ok. But hang in there and continue to show up and you will start to see growth! Support one another, share good finds, and have fun with it! Don’t focus on the number of followers you have. Remember… quality over quantity.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

CLIENTS! Word of mouth is hands down the absolute best source of getting new clients. Building that bond with clients is one of my favorite things about photography beside the actual photography aspect. I used to be a bartender and I genuinely love talking with people and getting to know them. As a photographer I am a witness to such big events, milestones, firsts, and intimate moments. Before, during and after sessions I am honored to get to know my clients on a deeper level. I believe that is part of the reason why my clients share my information with friends and family. Without my amazing clients, I would not be where I am in my photography career. I am forever grateful for every single one of them and blessed to call a lot of them friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.codymontesphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codymontesphotography/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/codymontesphotography/

Image Credits
Cody Montes Photography